Asthma blamed in death of girl in crash

Examiner rules out ambulance collision as cause

The death of a 13-year-old Chicago girl after an ambulance collision was related to her bronchial asthma and not the crash, a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said Wednesday.

Arielle Starks was transferred to another ambulance immediately after the collision with a car at about 7 a.m. Tuesday, and she received uninterrupted treatment en route to Trinity Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at about 7:35 a.m., said Molly Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Fire Department.

The crash, which occurred near 87th Street and Langley Avenue, was the second in two days involving an ambulance and a motorist. On Monday, a 36-year-old mother of five was killed when a car hit by an ambulance pinned her against a light pole.

In both incidents, the ambulances were traveling with lights and sirens, Sullivan said.

"We see people driving around, windows up, air-conditioning blasting, radio on, and they can't hear a thing," said Sullivan. "Or, out of selfishness or confusion, they try to race through an intersection to beat a fire engine or police car."

After a Dec. 23, 2000, collision that killed Fire Lt. Scott Gillen, 37, the state legislature enacted a law increasing the penalty for failing to yield to emergency vehicles at an accident scene to license suspension or fines of up to $10,000.

Sullivan said she did not immediately know the number of crashes involving motorists and ambulances in a typical year. Both of this week's accidents are under investigation, she said.

No one was cited in the 87th Street collision, said Chicago police spokesman Pat Camden.

The driver of the car, "said he didn't hear the sirens or hear the ambulance, and the officer made a judgment call not to issue him a ticket," Camden said.

The driver in Monday's collision, which killed Denise Simmons, was charged with failure to yield to an emergency vehicle and damage to city property, said police spokesman Thomas Donegan.

Simmons, an unemployed mother of five children between the ages of 3 and 15, was hit at Cottage Grove Avenue and 64th Street, said her brother, Eugene.

"We told her children she's up in heaven," he said. "They are missing their mother very much."